Shelley Fralic: From M&M’s to vodka, we’re cuckoo for coconut

Coconut fruit has been referred as kalpa vriksha in Sanskrit, which means the “tree which gives all that is necessary for living.”

Photograph by: Handout
, Files

It is the most unlikely of superstars in the sweet tooth firmament, having long been considered little more than the saving grace of stranded desert islanders or the perfect flaked topping for an delicately iced cake.

It’s really nothing more than a humble tree fruit, the coconut, dangling precariously (and if one falls on your head, dangerously) from those glorious, swaying palm trees that have trademarked tropical paradises and not a few postcards around the world for eons.

But all that age-old sun-kissed simplicity and ubiquity is, of course, the coconut’s marvel.

And in case you haven’t chewed on a chunk lately, the coconut is big news these days.

Forget the old standbys like coconut car freshener, Bounty chocolate bars, pina coladas, toasted macaroons and that silly hula set with the coconut bra you bought for your granddaughter on your last vacation in Waikiki.

The tropical stalwart has migrated from the shores of Hawaii and other equatorial climes, and has been remixed and remarketed not only as a new taste treat but as the latest saviour in our quest for living well.

Today, both the nutrient-rich meat and the milk of the coconut, which is often mistakenly called a nut, are being reconstituted and branded into everything from lip balm and dried candy snacks to shaving cream and even M&M’s.

Of all the nouveau uses for coconuts in the age of earnest wellness, it may well be that coconut water is becoming the most ubiquitous, jostling for more and more space these days on North American store shelves alongside the bottled big guns like Coke, Pepsi, Red Bull and Gatorade.

Why the sudden popularity?

Coconut water is taken from young coconuts and, unlike the milk derived from the older fruit, it is far less fatty. In fact, all those liquid sun-baked nutrients sealed in that hard shell are not only lower in sugar, carbohydrates and calories than the average soft drink or fruit juice, but are said to also contain electrolytes, antioxidants and B vitamins like riboflavin and niacin as well as cytokinins, touted as anti-agers and anti-carcinogens.

Which is why celebrities constantly in search of the fountain of youth — is that Rihanna on the beach clutching a Vita Coco and touting in an ad campaign that it’s better to “hydrate naturally, from a tree, not a lab”? — have embraced its ripe richness.

Health nut Madonna loves Vita Coco so much that she is one of several celebs who have invested in the company, which has seen its sales more than double in the past few years. Retail sales of coconut water in the U.S. alone hit $400 million in 2011, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal, though it’s still a small player in the billion-dollar beverage industry.

Like most indigenous plants, the coconut’s usefulness is found in its repurposing from the outside in, from the fibrous outside husk which houses the hemp-like “coir” used to make everything from welcome mats to mattresses, to the hard shell inside, which is used to make charcoal, to the goodies sealed in the core, the white pulp that when dried is called copra and the milk, all of which is good for drinking, eating, cooking and even slathering on your skin to soothe a burn.

The three characteristic “eyes” that are visible on the shell after the husk is removed are actually germination pores and are said to have prompted its colloquially derived name, coco, which means head, because the shape and those eyes make a coconut look rather like a little suntanned face.

Coconut meat, which is fattier and thus somewhat calorific, is so reliably sweet and chewy that it’s a mainstay of desserts, and the oil it produces can be used for everything from frying a steak to slathering on the body as skin cream.

But beyond the charms of the coconut macaroon, coconut ice cream, coconut-crusted shrimp and coconut cream pie the Western world has so long embraced, today there comes a conveyor belt load of new products intending to feed our coco fever.

A report last fall in The Jakarta Post detailed the investment plan of the Philippine Coconut Authority, which announced it will pump $40 million into its coconut industry for the production of byproducts such as coconut jam, coconut vinegar, frozen coco meat and coconut chips for export to more than 100 countries.

And lest you think that they haven’t yet thought of everything that can be made from a coconut, rest assured that one of the hottest treats currently trending on the coco charts is one that will surely help you create your own version of paradise.

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